There are very few big purchases that a consumer makes in a lifetime as studied and deliberate as that of purchasing a car. As will be appreciated, once a prospective purchaser shows up at a car dealership, the decision to buy a car has been made and that individual expects to leave the dealership with a car. However, unlike other large purchases, such as that of a home, the purchaser of a car typically does not go through the step of getting pre-approval for financing prior to showing up on the car lot to buy a car. Despite the amount of time that may be spent pouring over literature or online material doing research in the decision-making process for the type and model of car to purchase, few prospective buyers know their credit rating and lendability prior to the time they show up at the dealership to buy the car.
Again, by the time a purchaser shows up on a car lot to buy a car, the decision to buy a car has not only been made, but also to at least to some extent, the capital necessary to put down a down payment and leave with a vehicle has been procured and is in hand. However, the resources and ability to qualify for, and secure, financing for the remainder of the car's purchase price from the dealership will not be known until the car dealer obtains the necessary information and paperwork from the prospective buyer and enters it into its financing system to get an indication of the buyer's creditworthiness.
As will be appreciated, not all prospective buyers will qualify for financing with a given dealership, for a given car, or for a given purchase price. In operation, when a prospective buyer shows up to a dealership with the definitive decision to buy a car, the realization that they do not qualify for financing and will not be leaving the dealership with a car can be quite upsetting. These individuals were set on purchasing a car and have been turned away by the dealer. Many of these individuals need a car and will at some point continue their efforts to obtain an automobile from another dealer or seek alternative financing. In any event, once a prospective buyer has gone to the penultimate step of coming to the dealership, it is unlikely that their desire or need to purchase a car will be deterred in the long run. But certainly in the short run, a dealer telling them they are not creditworthy and closing its doors to them will derail their immediate efforts to buy a car. This phenomenon is unfortunate because these individuals at this point in time are ready and willing customers for someone who will sell them a car. Buying is built on emotion, so timing is critical.
Presently, there does not exist a mechanism that allows other potential car sellers the ability to do business with those turned away by other dealerships absent those individuals coming directly to these alternative sellers on their own accord. Likewise, there does not exist a mechanism for car dealers that cannot, for whatever reason, finance these individuals to inform or steer them in the direction of other willing car sellers and, preferably, profit for their efforts in this regard. In addition, there does not presently exist a mechanism that allows prospective car sellers to identify and directly communicate with willing car buyers that have been recently turned away from other dealerships due to financing concerns but that would potentially qualify for financing from their dealership.
One prior artisan has attempted to devise a system to target individuals that have visited auto dealerships in the recent past in hopes that some of these people will still be in the market for car and will respond to a mailing. Specifically, a company called Virtual Lending Source has devised a system called “Trigger Leads.” In operation, by teaming with a lender, the company is able to receive a list from credit bureaus each day with consumers that applied for automotive credit the prior day. The company compiles the list of “leads” into a data base searchable by zip code and then sells the leads to local car dealerships. The company then takes the contact information for these individuals and mails them an offer for credit from Virtual Lending Source or the car dealership or a combination of the two.
This system suffers from numerous drawbacks. First, for example, there is no way to know at the time of purchasing the leads if any of the consumers that had their credit pulled purchased a car that day or not. In other words, the consumer may already be in a car by the time they receive the mailing. Secondly, there is no way to know the specifics of the consumer's credit history at the time of purchasing the leads. The consumer may be an individual the dealership cannot finance but the dealership will not know until the consumer replies to the mailing. Thus, the purchase of that lead was for naught. Additionally, because of the national “Do Not Call” Registry, the system relies upon mailings to contact the consumer. The lag time in a mailing getting to the consumer, coupled with many people's aversion to “junk mail”, suggests this method of pursuing leads is unlikely to be very effective. Many leads will be stale by the time the consumer is contacted. Again, buying a car is done on emotion, and timing is critical.
Although not necessarily analogous to the present situation, another prior artisan has proposed a system and method for providing sales leads to the sellers of complimentary goods. In US 2006/0195385, published Aug. 31, 2006, the named inventors provide a subscriber-based computer system that allows a seller to generate additional revenue from the sale of complementary products/services sales leads. The system also allows the provision of temporally-relevant information to customers to enable customers to obtain complementary products/services. This system suffers from a number of drawbacks. For example, the system is limited to leads on complimentary products or services.
In practice, a lead for a complimentary product or service is unlikely to prove fruitful. First, it is rare that the purchasers of a good are both in the market for a complimentary product and also have not already identified the business from which they intend to buy the product. Accordingly, the enthusiasm of complimentary lead sellers and complimentary lead buyers will quickly wane. After repeatedly preparing and marketing leads that result in no returns a lead seller will be disinclined to participate in the program. Likewise, as the cost of purchasing leads which yield no sales add up, all but the few successful lead buyers are likely to continue to purchase leads or renew their subscription to the lead service. Secondly, most companies or providers that have the potential to make sales of complimentary products will either start selling these products themselves or make strategic alliances with a few select complimentary goods/services providers and deal exclusively with them. An open market for leads for complimentary products is unlikely to pan out in the real world.
Another drawback to known lead selling systems such as that described in US 2006/0195385 is the fact that the lead buyer has no way of gauging both the interest of the consumer in its product offerings and the ability of the consumer to afford the purchase. In sum, the lead buyer has no way of knowing if the customer is someone worth attempting to do business with. This drawback is particularly acute when dealing with the sellers of high priced or high end products, such as automobiles.
The foregoing underscores some of the problems associated with prior art lead selling systems. Furthermore, the foregoing highlights the long-felt, yet unresolved need in the art for a lead system that allows a lead buyer to purchase a lead knowing that the customer is both in the market for the lead buyer's product and also a customer having the financial qualifications sufficient to attempt to transact business with.
Moreover, the foregoing highlights the complete absence in the art of a lead system that allows a seller dealing with a customer that he cannot or does not intend to transact business with to still profit from his efforts by identifying an alternate dealer of the same or like products/services willing to do business with that customer, whether for a fee, commission, or some other form of compensation on any consummated sale in exchange for the lead.